Tag Archives: Space Station

According to this article, there is now definitive proof that Mars once contained flowing water. We’ve suspected for years that Mars once harbored liquid water on its surface, a good indication life may have once been found on our near planetary neighbor. Now we know for sure that it definitely did have liquid water. What does this mean for us? Might we, as the picture above, eventually terraform and colonize Mars and build something like a Starfleet Presidio-class space station in orbit over it? My question is whether we have the right to do so. I think the answer depends on whether there is any life on Mars today. If there is, we would more than likely destroy it by terraforming Mars’ environment to better suit ourselves. But then we run into a bit of a conundrum, because don’t we as a species have a right to propagate and ensure our survival? Right now we are confined to Earth, and as the saying goes, we’ve got all our eggs in one basket. What is the measure by which we determine how possible alien life on Mars compares to the billions of humans of Earth?

Perhaps if NASA develops its warp drive in the next few decades such a terraforming and colonization of Mars would be more likely, and such an academic question will become more existential.

My wife and I just moved into our new house yesterday, and I can wholeheartedly attest to the fact that 90 degree heat + steep driveways + stairways + heavy furniture & boxes = More sweat in 4 hours of moving than an entire weekend of hiking in Grayson Highlands Virginia state park near White Top.

I can now better understand, just barely, some of the difficulty faced by Bajoran laborers under Cardassian rule. So below you will find a space station used by the Cardassians for something other than forcing Bajorans to process ore.

Star Trek is full of warrior races in opposition to the Federation. We’ve got the ubiquitous Klingons, plus the Andorians, Nausicaans, Kazon, etc. A relatively recent addition to that menagerie of hostile warrior peoples is the Jem’Hadar. There are a few things that set them apart from all others, one is that they were genetically modified to be the “perfect” warrior, unquestioning, skilled, cold-blooded killers. Second, they are born addicted to a drug called ketracel-white, without daily use of which they will die.

As with many other incidences of Star Trek, even the Jem’Hadar are an analogy for our lives. Our recent wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan have produced a similar, if not so blatant problem. But why stop at our warriors in our examination? How many people do we know that have a de facto drug store in their medicine cabinets to treat their conditions? Medication for a heart condition, hypertension, diabetes, etc.? Are these not medications without which these people would die? Are they not controlled, in a way, through their continued reliance on these drugs? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but perhaps in asking them we can eventually solve the problems they pose. Having had numerous discussions on these issues with my wife, she firmly believes that our reliance on artificial foods and sedentary lifestyles are major contributing factors for many of the ailments that plague us now. She says we have thrown our lives out of balance as a result, and that by seeking to balance our lives through a healthy diet and exercise are key to ridding us of many of these problems.

As someone who used to be 45 pounds overweight with frightening bouts of unexplained chest pains until I changed my diet and started regularly exercising, I tend to agree.

Another update to my starships page. This time we have one Borg ship and three Starfleet ships, with a little background and interesting trivia on each ship.

Borg Transwarp Prototype: This ship only appeared once, and that was in TNG’s “Descent”. Interestingly, we technically do see the ship again later in the Voyager series, but as some bomb capable of destroying an entire solar system. That only raises the question: Why not use that against humanity since all attempts at assimilating them have failed in the past? Blow them all up if they’re too hard to assimilate, right? But hey, humanity is the star of Star Trek, it’s not like we’ve got a show called Star Trek: Borg where we have a crew of Borg running around the galaxy assimilating species … man, I would LOVE that show.

Starfleet Akyazi-class: This ship shows up as a schematic in a book, one of those books that only the nerdiest of Star Trek nerds would find entertaining. Of what do I speak? I’m speaking of a book that informs you the fictional types of phasers some fictional ships employ and what fictional companies make them and in what year and what fictional conflicts they get into with other fictional ships. I love it!

I’ve updated my Kelvin-class ship here. It’s the same ship used by Captain James T. Kirk’s father, George Kirk, in the 2009 Star Trek movie. Don’t be too sad though, George Kirk would pass on from this life and move on to become Thor, God of Thunder. Not too shabby.

Starfleet Starbase-class (alternate): This last ship is really a space station, the huge one we very briefly saw in the 2009 Star Trek movie. The interesting thing about this station is that it greatly resembles a fan-made station written by that guy Gene Roddenberry didn’t like much.

The I.S.S., the International Space Station, that intricate marvel of human engineering floating in space, the single largest artificial satellite ever built by humankind. A place of experiments and observations, a place where humans from all Earthly nations can work together, striving for peace and goodwill, all alone in the night.

Set in the same era, but covered mostly in the Vanguard novels, is the Starfleet Watchtower-class starbase. I’ve got to say that I don’t normally get into reading Star Trek novels set during the Original Series timeframe. But for whatever reason, I’ve just started this series and really enjoy revisiting the classic crew of Kirk, Spock, etc. Perhaps it’s the fact that they have a cameo appearance by Matt Decker, such a tragic starship captain, forced to watch his crew get eaten by the Planet Killer. Whatever quality sets it apart from the other novels I’ve tried to read in that era, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable read so far!